Bath Assembly Rooms

Several areas of Bath had undergone development during the Stuart period; development increased during Georgian times, however, in response to the increasing number of visitors to the spa and resort town who required accommodation. The architects John Wood, the Elder and his son John Wood, the Younger laid out the new quarters in streets and squares, the identical façades of which gave an impression of palatial scale and classical decorum. Much of the creamy honey-coloured Bath stone used for construction throughout the city was obtained from the limestone Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines owned by Ralph Allen (1694–1764). The development at this time largely consisted of new residential…

The limestone building has a slate hipped roof. It is rectangular with a projecting doric portico entrance and an extension to the rear. The Ballroom has five chandeliers and capacity for up to 500 people. It is over 100 ft long and nearly 45 ft wide. It is 60 ft long and 42 ft wide. It is 42 ft across. In 1777, the Card Room was added. Philip Thicknesse in his 1778 'New Bath Guide' admired the architecture of the New or Upper Rooms but thought that 'in spite of all these Advantages, we much doubt, whether it be true that the Upper Rooms shew Female Beauty so advantageously as the Lower.... We have examined too, with a Degree of particular Attention, some of the most Admired Beauties of the…

Today, the rooms are owned and operated by the National Trust. They are used currently used as a venue for partnership exhibitions and concerts, including ones that are part of the Bath International Music Festival. The basement of the building provided a home to the Fashion Museum, which was known before 2007 as the Museum of Costume, until its closure in October 2022. The collection was started by Doris Langley Moore, who gave her collection to the city of Bath in 1963. It focuses on fashionable dress for men, women and children from the late 16th century to the present day and has more than 30,000 objects. The earliest pieces are embroidered shirts and gloves from about 1600. The…